Summarizing medical content with iterative simplification rules

Abstract

A method for generating a gloss of medical content. The method includes repeatedly applying, using a processor, a plurality of simplification rules to the medical content until the medical content is fully simplified. Thereafter, one or more target patterns having slots associated with ontologies are matched to one or more portions of the medical content and the one or more portions of the medical content are extracted. The one or more portions correspond to the gloss.

1 . A method for generating a gloss of medical content, said method comprising:
 repeatedly applying, using a processor, a plurality of simplification rules to the medical content until the medical content is fully simplified;   matching one or more target patterns to one or more portions of the medical content; and   extracting the one or more portions of the medical content, wherein the one or more portions correspond to the gloss.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the medical content is one of a medical abstract, a clinical trial, and transcribed physician notes. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more target patterns identify one or more salient points of the medical content. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more salient points of the medical content include eligibility criteria and/or genetic markers. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising parsing the medical content and identifying portions thereof containing conclusions, wherein the medical content is filtered to include only the identified portions. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a target pattern of the one or more target patterns includes one or more slots linked to an ontology database. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising combining the simplification rules into complex simplification rules and/or arranging the simplification rules in order of dependency. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more target patterns includes a target pattern of TREATMENT 1  produces more/less DISEASE than TREATMENT 2  and/or a target pattern of REGIMEN was recommended to patient. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the medical content is comprised of one or more dependency structures. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of simplification rules and/or one or more target patterns rules are converted to dependency structures. 
     
     
         11 . A system for searching one or more medical documents in response to a search request from a requester, wherein said one or more medical documents have glosses associated therewith, wherein the glosses match one or more target patterns having one or more slots, said system comprising:
 an interface provisioned to exchange communications between the system and the requester over a communications network, wherein the interface receives the search request from the requester over the communications network, wherein the search request specifies search criteria slot-wise according to the one or more slots; and   a search component provisioned, using a processor, to search the glosses of the one or more medical documents and identify glosses matching the search criteria of the search request.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the search criteria includes a target pattern of the one or more target patterns, wherein a slot of the target pattern is defined. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein a target pattern of the one or more target patterns is TREATMENT 1  produces more/less DISEASE than TREATMENT 2  and/or REGIMEN was recommended to patient. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the search component is provisioned to narrow search space according to keywords. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the system includes a database having a plurality of simplification rules specific to the one or more medical documents. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the glosses include salient points of at least one of a clinical trial, a medical abstract and transcribed physician notes. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more slots are associated with an ontology database. 
     
     
         18 . A user interface for searching one or more medical documents, wherein said one or more medical documents have glosses associated therewith, wherein the glosses match one or more target patterns having one or more slots, wherein said user interface is visually rendered on a display using a processor, said user interface comprising:
 one or more input fields associated with the one or more slots of the one or more target patterns, wherein the user interface is provisioned to allow the generation of search criteria on a slot-wise basis using the one or more input fields.   
     
     
         19 . The user interface of  claim 18 , said user interface comprising one or more input fields for limiting the search criteria based upon keywords. 
     
     
         20 . The user interface of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more target patterns include a target pattern of TREATMENT 1  produces more/less DISEASE than TREATMENT 2  and/or a target pattern of REGIMEN was recommended to patient.